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Umbrage

[ˈʌmbrɪdʒ] · UM-brij · English · noun
negativeintensity: mediumanger

Offense or resentment taken at a perceived.

Definition

Offense or resentment taken at a perceived — often imagined or trivial — slight, most commonly in the phrase “take umbrage.”

Connotation & usage

About offense taken — wounded pride or the suspicion of having been slighted or snubbed, where the slight is often only supposed, that is, possibly imagined or out of proportion. This separates it from indignation and outrage (moral anger at a genuine wrong, often on others' behalf) and from exasperation, anger, or ire (no necessary slight). Deeper and more brooding than pique (a transient flash of vanity), but more a reaction-in-the-moment than the lasting ill will of resentment. Now largely fixed in the collocation “take umbrage at.”

Related words

Etymology

Early 15c., originally “shadow, shade,” from Old French ombrage, from Latin umbra “shade, shadow” (also the root of umbrella). The emotional sense “suspicion of being slighted” is from the 1610s, from the idea of being “overshadowed”; “take umbrage at” is attested by the 1670s.

How it has changed

A well-sourced development: literal “shade/shadow” (15c.) → “suspicion of being overshadowed” (17c.) → fixed “offense at a slight,” surviving mainly in “take umbrage.” The older literal senses persist only as archaic/literary. No recent-generation shift beyond this long-settled narrowing.

Sources

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From The Lexicon of Feeling — a carefully sourced dictionary & thesaurus of emotions across 60 languages. Definitions are verified against the cited sources; emotion-family, valence, and intensity tags are editorial. This is a learning tool for emotional vocabulary, not therapy or a substitute for professional care. © 2026 The Lexicon of Feeling.